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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

OK, I have no clue what that means but hell, its way, way too cool to ignore – the above are the opening lines of the hottest south Indian song that’s hit the net and it features the daughters of the both the super men, Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan, in the same room and the guy who’s singing the song is Rajnikanth’s son in law (check out sooparr video here J). And the video’s just hit about a million views in 4 days flat, and that’s quite a feat for an Indian song, don’t ya think? And it’s way too cool n way too yummy, so check out the lyrics just to see how mad it really is.. and man, it sooo rocks!!! J

Actually I was talking with a marketing friend of mine and asked him why he thinks this video has done soo astoundingly well in such a less time. And he said that it’s cos of its simple lyrics and more importantly, its’ about something all of us can relate to irrespective of language – it’s cos it’s all about heart. J

Yup it goes….

“Why this kolavari, kolavari, kolavari di?...

Yo boyyzz, I yam singg songgg… “ J

Let me elaborate his funda by asking you this question - which one among the following would you pick - Apples, Oranges, Cherry or Heart? (Yes, come back from the song to the post! J)

So let me ask u again – of the following four, what would you choose -– Apples, Oranges, Cherry or Heart?

I bet u’d pick heart! J

In the history of the mankindzz, Love has proved to be the heart’s best dish. And think about it, we humans love the heart’s various forms of love – whether its love for our sweetheart, for our parents, love for our siblings, love for friends, love for thy neighbor, for our pets or even love for Katrina Kaif, the best food for our soul is one that is all heart.

Some great dude once said that nobody is an island; and it’s so true. We simbly cannot live alone – our hearts are built to connect. To another heart. All the time. All the while. And we’ve always been meeting new hearts after old. And in the book of our lives, our chapters make meaning not by the money we rake but by the hearts we stake - the pages of our lives are punctuated by the hearts that we make, the ones we break, the ones we forget, the ones we remember, the ones that we hold and the ones that we lose. The hearts we touch are the currency of our lives.

So if you think this post is on love, it’s not.

The point of this whole post is that I’ve come to know of this guy. He’s a distant relative of mine and I’ve never actually met up with him personally. But at every marriage or function that we attend, his stories keep popping up. He’s a fairly ordinary chap with a fairly ordinary will and a fairly ordinary life. But he has one extraordinary quirk- one that has made him nothing short of legend within our circles. For the lack of a better word, let me just call him this– I’ll call him ‘the heart farmer’. And his one true quirk that makes him extraordinary is this - he helps out relatives.

Let me explain.

Question - have you heard of stories of own relatives who sometimes fall out of luck in life? I mean, I’m pretty sure all of us have often heard stories of distant relatives who’ve ‘had it all but now lost it all’, who are ‘in pretty bad shape now’, who ‘played the stock market and lost’, who ‘darbar-ed recklessly’, who ‘lived beyond their means’, who ‘lost their old glory’ and the like. Often we just listen to these news and then forget about it almost instantly. And most often, we would want to keep distant relatives as just that – distant. But have we ever wondered what really happens to them? Have we ever wondered if there is something that we could do to help them out? Obviously, our first reaction is if they’d ask us for money; so we try to put them away at a distance.

But the thing is, yaar - sometimes it’s not money they want – sometimes, it’s just a little show of support or a few reassuring words of advice or a few kind words that they’ll need to straighten things up (yes, serious, serious ban gaya J). And yes, sometimes it is all about money too. But mind you, things can get pretty profitable too…

The heart farmer does just that.

The heart farmer looks into his family tree, looks out for relatives in distress and then helps them out: he meets with them personally, talks with them, understands their issues and tries to sort things out. And once he’s ‘fixed’ one house, he just moves on to the next. And in the process, he wins another set of hearts. And that’s exactly what he does – like a farmer who shepherds his crop, the heart farmer cultivates, nurtures and wins the hearts of his relatives.

Stories of how he straightened out his once wayward brother is now legend. His US educated brother could not find a job in recession hit US and had to come back to India in shame and with a bruised ego. People started ridiculing him that the lakhs that his dad put into his US education was like ‘throwing money into the sea’. And as a result, his bro kept to himself, started avoided everybody, got into drinking, gambled with quick rich schemes and eventually got into drugs. The heart farmer eventually took control of his brothers’ life. He understood that his brother was good with web designing and had an US degree to boot – he just needed his chance and the heart farmer gave him just that – he funded his brother to start up a small web designing company. That was six years back – today the company is in a position of rejecting work as it has too much work in its hands and is generating profits every year…. and guess who the main stake holder in the company is? J

And this is what the heart farmer does. And in the process, his kin and kith is now steadily emerging as a richer and powerful clan in society, all because of this one man. And as for him, he’s also become a wealthier man, definitely wealthier by heart and yes, wealthier by bank. And he still spends his time looking deep into his family tree to find more of his relatives to earnestly help them out.

So what would I do if I had an extra two hours in a day? I want to start my account as the heart farmer of my kin. And to be honest, I’d like to think I’ve already started, in my own little way:

Since I stay away from my parents now, I’ve eventually got into this unlikely habit of not calling them sometimes for as long as a week (yes, missed calls from worried mom = lots J). Once I’ve realized this, the first thing I did is set up a system where I call them once every two days. Similarly, I’ve done the same thing where I simply call and chat up with my sister and brother, who also stay in different parts of the country. It just keeps me a little more connected with them in spite of us being separated by distances. I was feeling a little ashamed saying that I don’t call my near and dear so often but after I’ve talked with a few friends of mine, they echo my same sentiment that in the days of nuclear families and rising aspirations, sometimes these lil important things get forgotten and the number one reason is the lack of time. J

I realized that I haven’t been calling my favorite aunts for quite a very long while – these aunts are the ones who basically brought me up when I was a kid. And I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t been able to keep in touch with them for a long, long time now. Again, the blame is on the lack of time. But now I’ve set up reminders to call them at least once every two weeks and things are going pretty much according to plan (touchwood J). In fact, my cousin is in the arranged marriage market and since I’m known as the resident metrosexual of the family, he’s asked me to spin doctor his profile. J

I’ve started connecting more with my old friends. I’ve decided to deepen my friendship beyond the one-off ‘Happy B’day’ message on facebook. In fact, I’ve started scouring supermarkets on the weekends for gifts on discount. I buy them in bulk, gift wrap them personally and give it to my friends when I meet them or call them over for beer. They usually get bowled over with the unexpected show of warmth. In fact, that’s where this song (yes the song again J) came up – last Saturday, a long lost friend of mine came over for a couple of beers and we played this song on loop and heard it some 50 times in the background while we kept gossiping ‘bout the good ‘ol times, the good ol’ friends and the good ol’ college days.

Since I usually have a few hand wrapped gifts at home, I sometimes randomly give it to kids I see on the street. Usually their parents go crazy when I do that and I just leave them to themselves to figure it out for themselves. But the feeling of being that wierd mysterious gifter kinda gives me a super kick. J

OK, now would you believe I wrote this post for a contest? And it’s actually turned out into something else now. But the initial idea was that it was to be this serious post written for the Surf Excel #Get Smart- IB blogging contest. Surf claims that if you use their product, it would save you two extra hours a day. So the premise is – what would you do if you suddenly found two extra hours in a day? I had got myself into this mode where I had this very, very serious post and then the song happened…. J

Well, my answer is if I had two extra hours a day, I’d use that time to start my innings as the heart farmer of my clan. Hopefully, like the original heart farmer has shown, ek din, mera clan will also grow richer and powerful due to the effort of one man, a.k.a moi J. And if you could expand this concept to more people out here, we’d have a multiplier effect of having many heart farmers in this part of the world. And who knows, one day, if this concept really catches on, we could be looking at an India full of heart farmers, cultivating, nurturing and winning hearts all around the world. J

So here’s me starting my score as a heart farmer… but the important big question is - are u? J

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Like a magnet, I can repel any woman alive - anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

For years, my life has been the opposite of the Axe deo ad - women simply used to fall out of the sky and then after seeing me, they all run away like crazy in the opposite direction. And it’s always been the case for a long, long while. When I was a kid, I was a chota magnet and now, well, like you guessed, am a bada magnet - my luck with women never seem to change.

And for me, love has been a lot like Bangalore traffic - often with no warning, my prospective love life suddenly turns into one way (esp after Raksha bandhan), usually my journey gets punctuated by the rude entry of unwanted traffic-cop-like characters like my sweethearts’ better looking boyfriend(s), and since my seduction always starts with me offering to drop her home on my bike, my love story usually ends even before it starts, if she happens to find a good auto driver.

For years, I have been dreaming of becoming the main character in the Axe deo ad – but the Axe Effect has always worked as the Axe Defect for me. I even tried mixing all those other deos (Wild Stone, Set Wet, and other deos whose ads show promising results) and applied the resulting cocktail to my body and the closest it got me to a woman was the hospital nurse who treated me for the resultant skin rashes. And I’m not even going to talk about the many multi colored vibrant undies I bought inspired by that stupid old Frenchie ad.

And then, I met ‘the dude’ who has good teeth, good hair and supposedly good success with women. And he told me that the secret to success with not only women, but with people in general, is well, simply ‘hair’. And since I am mallu, my shocked response to his hair comment was also the same(in mallu).

But he was right. A secret to getting noticed, which is the first step to success with people-in-general, is believe it or not, getting your hair right.

Let me give you an example – go to a crowded place and just look around you. You’ll see a lot of people whom you’d probably forget in seconds but the people you end up noticing are generally the people who take care of themselves and curiously enough, these people have good hair (remember Sanjay Malakar from American Idol). Whether they gel it, streak it, comb it or do whatever with their hair, those that take care of their hair quite well, get noticed. Between two random strangers, the one who strikes you more is often the one who has better hair. In fact, hair is one of the basic fundas that actors work on to get into the skin of a new character – recall Aamir Khan’s hair in his different personas in Dil Chahtha Hai, Mangal Pandey, Ghajini, 3 Idiots etc.

In fact, upon my zealous research (i.e mindless googling) into this area, I found that the humble hair plays a big role in creating powerful first impressions for a person. We all know that the face that is one of the first things we notice about others and research says that hair not only frames the face but also can substantially transform it. Some cool findings from this research below(along with my worldly wise comments J):

For a killer First Impression....

For a killer first impression, you should choose a suitable hair style. Studies also say that the opposite gender gives a really big deal to hair.

Women with long, straight, brunette or blonde hairstyles (Shiela, Munni, Jalebi etc etc) are perceived to as the sexiest and most affluent. While in contrast, women with medium-length, casual looking hair(Kajol) are viewed as more intelligent and good-natured. (Katrina! Katrina! Katrina! Ok, I don’t know why I said this but I should learn to control myself… Katrina! Katrina! Katrina! )

For Men

Men wearing short, front flip hair (like John Abraham) are perceived as the most confident and sexy. They are also perceived as the most self-centered. (Taking notes -must have short front flip hair. ..must also have muscles...)

Men with medium length, side parted hair (think Mammootty) are viewed as the most intelligent and affluent – so if you wanna nail that interview, this is the look to have. But also, men with this style are also seen as the most narrow minded. (guess Mammootty cleared a lot of job interviews before becoming an actor )

Long hair on men suggests that he is probably less well-off than other men, but also suggests he is more open minded than them. (so if you don’t wanna treat anyone for ur bday, just grow long hair; and blame the recession!)

The research goes on to say that to create a good first impression, the choice of hairstyle can project an image of intelligence and self assurance, or even that of insecurity and arrogance. So it suggests hairstyles for different kinds of faces :

Round faces – If you have a round face, you should opt for hairstyles that create the illusion of length, like height and fullness at the crown and short at sides; this should make your round face look sexy as hell. I have a round face, btw (I also have a round body, btw).

Heart shaped – If your face is heart, i.e, with wide foreheads and small delicate chins, you should opt for styles that add fullness to the lower part of the face – bob cuts and wavy curls should make you hot, hip n happenin’.

Triangular faces – the opposite of the heart, the hair styles here should look at creating more fullness at the upper part. Top heavy layers are the thing for you.

Rectangular faces – Short and medium length hair are what the doctor recommends for you. Boing!

Oval faces – You lucky cheese! You’re simply born with it – any style looks good on you. Or rather, you make any look look good on you. J

So by now, you can see how the humble hair can make you stand out from the crowd (I am talking about the one on your head btw). And in our busy, busy schedules, it’s no surprise to learn that our hair is the one of the most neglected parts of our body. And who can blame us? In the race to our aspirations and our tipping work-life balance, we often neglect or take such things for granted.

For supa dupa killer Hair....

In the age of the google, hair care tips are a dime too many. So here’s a simplified R-A-J recommendation to taking care of hair which is just a three letter word (for a change, it’s not four ;))- It’s ''SSS''– the secret to great hair is to just focus on Shine, Strength and Style. As simble n humble as that!

Since Style is already covered earlier (depends on your face type), let’s just focus on Shine and Strength with just three points, most of which, fortunately we already know:

Hair Care - Like our moms and grandmas say - Oil your hair at least once every three days. And after you apply oil, massage your head so that it sticks to your scalp and then let it stay on your head for about an hour before washing it off. You could shampoo it off but nothing beats the thrill of a cool head and a great night’s sleep after a hot oil bath – so its suggested that you shampoo it off the next day after a great night’s sleep. And remember to use conditioner after shampoo for that extra zing for the hair. And with gel, well, it’s said that you should apply it in such a way that it is applied only on the hair and not on the scalp. The point to be noted, me lord, is that if you are venturing out to put foreign things on your hair, make sure you use reputable brands. Key takeaway here is oil, massage, shampoo, condition and always choose reputed brands.

The eatings and the drinkings - Ok, I should probably the last person on earth to say this but here goes – go low on junk food, sleep well and get some exercise. So the next time you get yourself those cheese filled pizza, deep fried mangurian and chocolate drippy drips, you should just say ‘No’, hit the treadmill and resend all these goodies to my home address. J And yes, drink lots of liquids – but no, this is not an excuse to get drunk – but get this - beer is supposed to be good for your hair (Yes!! Another reason to go get some beer!! Cheers, mate!) But jokes apart, just to make you a li’l more guilty, tobacco n alcohol are considered villains to your hairy love story. So have at least 10 glasses of water every day (yes, without the whiskey! J). Key takeaway here is exercise, have lotsa water and yes, maintain a balanced diet.

Hair Repair - This is often the most neglected part of hare care. And actually, things like hair fall, split ends, dryness and dullness are not really the problem – the real problem is hair damage. Hair can get damaged due to variety of reasons like coloring, curling, straightening, dyeing, permanent chemicals, poor diet or even heat from hair dryers. If your hair has split ends or if your hair feels brittle or harsh, it is most likely damaged. To repair damaged hair, you could choose from home made remedies (eggs and oil, hot oil treatments, vitamin E capsules etc) or consider branded products. My personal selection here is the latter, as it’s a lot more hassle-free. Key takeaway here is, if your hair is damaged, switch to reputed brands immediately.

Something I found quite helpful (and extremely convenient) is the Dove Nourishing Oil care line, consisting of the hair care necessities - oil, shampoo, conditioner and repair mask- all in the same range. It consists of a daily use Shampoo with Vita Oils, a dual stripe Daily Treatment Conditioner with the power of double nourishment, a Repair Mask that nourishes deep inside for 99% smoother hair and a Vita-Oil serum that provides instant smoothness and shine without weighing down the hair.Vita-Oils apparently go deep inside the hair fiber to lock in moisture and hence nourish it with every wash without leaving a greasy feel.

Quite convenient and yes, I'm a sucker for brand Dove. J

And bingo! That’s it – just focus on Shine, Strength and Style with the above tips for your hair and baal baal bach jayenge J. Sure there are more advanced tips too but to be honest, I would never find the time to follow them in my supposedly busy life; so I wouldn’t really expect you to either, but if you do have the extra time and the extra energy, you could use that valuable time to check out the remainder of my hard working blog and follow it. J

So what’s my WoW hair moment?....

Well, judging by what I eat (that’s a monster burger in the pic-with extra fries, extra cheese, extra mayo n extra junk!), it’s no surprise that I have more weird hair moments than wow; but I still manage to get compliments by concentrating on the third 'S', of the 'SSS' (Shine, Strength and Style). I focus on Style to get me my compliments and I usually experiment a lot with my hair on the weekends and most of my amused friends’ reactions have varied between ‘WTF’, ‘dead rat on ur head?’ to ‘That’s so cool, man!’ Of course, for the Strength and Shine aspects, I have my biweekly oil bath followed by shampoo-conditioner the next day. But I’d like to think I am blessed with good hair though I am sure there is much more I should be doing to take care of my hair. And of the few worthy WoW hair moments I remember, one that is top of my mind right now is when a childhood buddy of mine, who is now a model, told me that he was jealous of my hair in school (guess mom’s strict oil-every-day regime seemed to have been working). Some things that I presently do with my hair is to use a few drops of coconut oil, instead of using gel; and yes, whenever there’s beer leftover from the day before (which seems to be always J), I use it on my hair as the last rinse after shampooing.

So I’m sure you’re wondering – as mentioned at the start of this story, has all this speed seduction helped me with getting my Katrina?

Well truth be told, not really. But the good thing is today, with my great head of hair(J), I’ve developed a certain level of confidence in myself that even when I get rejected, I’m quite cool with it. I just pity the girl cos she just blew her chance to get to know the great guy that I am ( even on my bad hair days J).

And plus, I have the mental satisfaction that she just turned down a great guy with such great hair and such panache.

(Proudly swishing my short hair to glory….)

J

This is an entry for the Dove-IndiBlogger "Love is a two way street; love your hair and it loves you back"contest. You can check out more comments and thoughts on this same subject on my other bloghere. Pics courtesy-mai baap google.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

You know times are bad when non-essential goods cost as much as essential goods.

Yup, petrol costs as much as beer nowadays.

When I first bought my car, I remember the sales guy tell me it can cross 15 km after putting in a ‘fine’ liter of petrol. It’s only later I realized that he actually meant ‘five’ and not ‘fine’. Some other bloke said I’d get very high mileage under “showroom” conditions. I so really want to find where that stupid conditioned “showroom” is cos the only time my car crossed 15 km on a liter of petrol was after pushing it myself for 10. Some other idiot later told me that my car gives me more smiles per liter; well, the only guy smiling has always been the pump owner whom I generously donate a big part of my meager salary every month just to satiate my car’s incurable addiction to petrol.

Sure I down a few glasses of spirit every week.You think I’m alcoholic? Well, you should meet my car – it downs so much spirit every week that if Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Sharaabi’ was remade today, my car could play the leading role with so much conviction that even the film’s then heroine, Jaya Prada, would not be able to tell the difference.

And damn that thing called inflation cos now even petrol prices are going up now (as if price increases of beer was not enough already! L)

So, I’ve been wondering what’s the best way to beat the rising fuel prices.

My first brilliant idea of marrying the local petrol pump owner’s daughter did not prove to be too enterprising mainly cos I ended up snooping around and spying on the wrong house (yes, like my car, my sense of direction also sucks!). Later I realized that it was not the local pump guy’s house but the local police constable’s house that I was snooping on. Also, a pump owner can’t slap people that hard (ouch, it still hurts!) Well, my unreliable set of good friends later gave me a reliable set of bad news that all the owners of all the local petrol pumps, within a 5KM radius of my area, only have sons (damn u, sex ratio skew!)

And the price of petrol keeps rising….

My next idea was to completely say ‘No’ to petrol and use a cycle to go to work- so I bought a high end trekker mountain bicycle to juggle Bangalore’s stagnant city traffic. Moreover, I was proud of me going green. But I guess I achieved a third of the ‘blood, sweat and tears’ phrase a little too effectively. Office folks started gifting me deodorants and perfumes for no reason at all. People started spraying air fresheners wherever I sat. A nose by any other name smelt my cabin just as bad and I became known more for the nose rather than for my nose for details.People used to call me to their haunted houses to drive away the ancient ghosts that incidentally had very weak senses of smell. And for my appraisals, my boss ‘rewarded’ me with a years’ supply of Pears soap and Axe deo, in addition to a lecture on personal hygiene, body odor and other Raj-made natural calamities. Also, I realized that you can’t pick up women with a BSA SLR and that biker babes actually prefer bigger&better bikes. I thus realized that, in the interest of public welfare and hygiene, I seriously needed the petrol car and personal cleanliness back in my life and thus gave up on my bicycle.

And the price of petrol keeps rising….

My next bright idea was something I’m still proud of and I still think has potential. I thought of going up the ‘value chain’. So, instead of tackling issues at a local level, I thought of going to the root of it all– I’ll go to where it all begins – to the petrol-rich Arab sheikhs where the petrol story begins. I’m told that the Sheikhs marry so many women and have so many children that they themselves are confused which is whose(and vice versa). And I also heard from a lot of people that in the Arab states, petrol is cheaper than water. Since I hail from God’s Own Country and water is always in abundance during the monsoons, I could trade petrol for water(sheer brilliance, don’t you think?) And since everyone from Kerala, except my dad and mom, seem to be in ‘the Gelff’, I figured it’d be easy doing business there. But that dream was short lived when the immigration officer looked at my passport photo and asked me, “What are you?” and drove me back home.

And the price of petrol keeps rising….

I then realized that one definitely need a car in today’s times. Sure, hybrid cars are an option but they are still years away from being commercially sold in India. And the only available Indian electric car is hardly a car. And using the bus, car pool, auto etc require a certain level of planning and entails a certain loss of flexibility. You really need a personal means of transportation. It’s only then that my friend said that one really cool way of beating the fuel prices is to change from petrol to diesel. Diesel costs much cheaper than petrol and diesel cars give better economy, have better acceleration and have better resale values.Also, with the improvements in technology, diesel engine cars have become quieter, ensures a more comfortable drive for both the driver and passengers, with lower vibration levels, better fuel consumption and improved responsiveness. They’re less polluting too and it makes a lot of sense for me cos I drive a lot. Stats say that if you drive at least 13,000KM a year, then you should blindly opt for a diesel car.

And Fiat (yup, the same house that brings us the cute Padmini, the sexy Linea and the fiery Ferrari) has come up with an innovative Fiat Upgrade Offer where you can buy any Fiat Linea or Punto car today and you could get lucky with a free upgrade to Fiat Multijet diesel technology – all for the price of a petrol car.

So I figured the best way to beat the rising petrol prices is to forget the pump owners’ daughters, the body odor and the petro-sheikhs and just turn to Fiat diesel.

And the price of petrol keeps rising….

So?... What me worry?

J

You can check out more comments and thoughts on this same subject on my other blog here.

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Just when I thought that everything was going on well with my life, stupid cupid hits me with a dart that changed everything. And then my life suddenly became filled with more color, sweets tasted sweeter, songs that I loved before now found newer meaning in them and my senses only wish that I could breathe the fragrance of her hair once again. Just once again.

And she and I liked watching those old fashioned movies- we decided that if we ever see a huge tree, we’d run all around it. And if we ever saw a lush green field, then we’d try running after each other, in slow motion(J) and yes, with old Bollywood hits playing in full blast to help with the overall ambiance.

But none of these happen. Cos she’s way off in Karachi and me, well, I’m here in Bangalore.

Yup, I’m in a long distance relationship. I know cos my phone bills are close to what I pay as my house rent. I tell her that whenever I close my eyes, all I see is her. And it’s true – cos I keep thinking about her almost all the time. Every day of mine starts and ends with her voice. When I’m low, I call her up; when I’m high, I call her up. And vice versa. She is in my life without actually being here. She is not around me but is still with me. All the time. All the while.And we have seen dreams of growing older with each other, together. We have seen dreams of holding each others’ wrinkled hands in each other’s and walking into the sunset together.

And then one day, we fought. I can’t remember why but I remember it was for some silly reason. Oh ya, it was cos I told her that if I didn’t see her then, I’ll never talk to her ever again (hey, I was just kidding!) But she took it seriously. Very seriously. One thing led to another and we ended up talking to each other in loud voices. After I put down the phone that night, I knew I could persuade her to get back to normal the morning after. I always liked apologizing to her cos apologies have a special charm when one is in love.

But that did not happen.

The next day, she did not take my calls. She did not reply to my messages. She did not answer my texts. I felt weird that day. I could not think properly the whole day. My mind was full of pain because of our argument the previous day. After all, I had started it. And she had not responded to my calls yet. It happened the following day also. And the day after that too. I was growing restless and the pain inside me was becoming more and more unbearable with each passing day. Then one day, after frantically trying to reach her for so many, many days, she took the phone and her trembling voice said, “Please don’t call me ever again.” And then my life suddenly becomes colorless, sweets tasted sweetless, songs that I loved before now became meaningless and my senses only wish that I could breathe the fragrance of her hair once again. Just once again.

But it was over.

But then, we live in a brand new world. In a while, we realized that we could not do without each other. We realized that we were too much in each others’ lives to be taken out just like that. We were inseparable in spite of being separated by time, space and land. And we had already become too much a part of each other’s lives to be taken apart from each other. And more over, we realized that once where there used to be love letters, there were more options today.

Now, we see each other everyday. We touch each other everyday. We share things with each other everyday. I carry her in my heart and with my tab, which is both thinner and lighter, I carry her everywhere. I see the laugh lines on her face everyday when she smiles at my jokes(PJs they are yaar, but still she laughs at them!J) and I enjoy admiring in detail the kindness lines behind her eyes when they sparkle when she talks with me because of the life-like display of my galaxy tab 750. We share videos of each other’s lives and enjoy watching them in Flash Player on Samsung's latest innovation. She’s always there when I need her and connecting to her is a cinch whether it’s through wifi or else. We always have the feeling that we’re always around whenever we need either of us. We send pictures, watch videos, movies and argue about which character had the best lines in the movie (which sounds and looks great on my tab btw). And sometimes, when I’m a tad too busy, I multitask on my tab with her in the background. We chat, we flirt, we laugh, we share. Just like before. Or rather, even better than before.

Today the sun shines a little brighter on me and I feel like she is the brightest star in my galaxy.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Somebody once said, “Happiness, is like a butterfly, which when pursued is just beyond your grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly may alight upon you.”

Trust me, it wasn’t me J

But somehow, after yesterday’s rehearsals, ‘Happiness’, ‘Golden butterfly’, ‘Father’s Day’ …. are the words fluttering about in the cheerful, cheerful corners of my mad, mad mind. (It’s been a while since I showed up for rehearsals and wow, did I miss it how! It’s also been a while since I used my head to think and wow, did I miss it how! J)

My 1THoT nominees would be:

1.The visual of Sumit standing on three stools decked one on the other, symbolizing fatherhood (being reluctantly put on a high pedestal). Interestingly, the level of trust the actors (Ranji, Nandini, Vidya) shared was amazing: a slip on Sumit’s side could well be, well….……. simply amazing!!!

2.Ajay’s thought that despite all the commercialization, a day like ‘father’s day’ does prompt us to wish our dad a very, very nice day; something which many of us forget in the usual grind of everyday working life. Adding on to this was Vidya’s portrayal on the ‘perfume for everyone but dad’ which nicely brings out the fact that sometimes, dads are simply overlooked/forgotten. Again, the contrast played by Ranji and Nandini on whether to relocate to home town or ask parents to come over to stay at work city found a personal resonance within me.

3.Hans Raaaj high school (curricular and especially the extra-curricular aspects). J

And the Oscar goes to…….

Well, they’ve all touched a chord within me. First thing I did yesterday after the show was check out when Father’s day is (Google sez it's next Sunday) and I do intend on calling dad and wishing the same. But what the hell, I called dad yesterday and as usual, I couldn't get senti with him. J See we do need a day like Father's Day. (Beer helps too but under the circumstances.....:P)

Both of us, me and the clown in me (we’re doing fine, thank you very much J), are waiting eagerly for OK next week….

Sunday, August 21, 2011

I went to Coastal Junction for a blind date. Since my date also stayed near Indiranagar and said that she liked sea food, I could not think of any other place in Indiranagar for sea food. (Of course, now there is Catch Marine also, but more on that in another review :)). I wanted to make a great first impression on a first date sure, so I went about researching a lot about Coastal Junction.

Coastal Junction occupies the 4nd and 5th floor of the five storied Roseby's building on 80feet road, right near the Kaya Skin Clinic (a good landmark if you need to find the way). Firstly, the location works great for me as it is just a few minutes from my place. And you can always find parking space right behind as the fabled residential layouts of Indiranagar with neatly maintained gardens and ordered service roads right lay just behind the building. So parking is usually never a big problem though you might need to walk for a minute or two.

As you walk into Coastal Junction, what greets you is the ambience - it has got a dim-lit new-age ambience which works great for dinners - the ambience exemplifies fine dining. They've really done the interiors very well with plush white seats contrasted against the adjoining dark brown tables and the lighting is just right. I was definitely impressed with the 4th floor with its dim romantic lighting, the ambience and the view it offers of 80feet road below. Most importantly, it had air-conditioning unlike the 5th floor, which is the roof top. I selected a table for two by the window on the 4th floor and I told the waiter to reserve the same for me for my date later that night. The waiter took my name and handed me a visiting card with his number on it. As I had time to kill, I browsed through their speed lunch buffet offer for weekdays, which I did not find too exciting.For the date, the 4th floor looked very sophisticated in the night and I was sure my friend was impressed. Also, the crowd in the other tables were also very well dressed and this added to the charm of the overall place . For starters, we ordered Baby Corn Kempu Bazulle and Squid Sukka - both amazing dishes as they were. The Squid Sukka was pure heaven. The beauty of the cuisine here is that the food is loaded with spices which are very well blended and as you eat, the various flavors run amok in your mouth and you can identify the different tastes distinctly in your mouth. For the main course, I have been dying to have Neer dosa and I ordered that while my friend ordered Appam. The Neer Dosa was well made and the Appam had that fresh made crispness about it, both of which we dunked into the Goan Prawn Curry. Even though my friend liked the Goan Curry, I found it just ok. We found a lot of time for conversation in between the meals and the service is good as the waiters faithfully come and pour water in the half filled glasses every now and then, as we went along chatting by. We ended the dish with payasams and the Pal Payasam provided a fitting end to a great experience.

On the whole, Coastal Junction is a great place to go, with a very classy ambience with great food and service. It is a tad too expensive; a wholesome meal for two would cost you about Rs. 1600/- or so ( though I have seen some 50% off deals running on various sites recently). If you need to impress someone who like seafood and you don't want to go out of Indiranagar, I would definitely recommend Coastal Junction for a great night out, and I would especially recommend the 4th floor by the window. J